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More handpicked essays just for you.
How movies sterortypes ethnic groups
Representation of minorities in american cinema
Misrepresentation of ethnicity in films
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The Truth About White Supremacy: American History X
As a Hispanic, I suppose I should expect or, be prepared, rather, for racism and discrimination. Thankfully, I have not experienced either.. yet. Our world is not perfect; things take place that we rather not know about, but ignoring the problem seems to only make matters worse. The movie American History X, is an admirable attempt to inform us about these types of malicious ignorance that plague our society. The impeccable acting, artistic cinematography, occasional adrenaline-pumping score, and slightly faulted, though award-worthy script, all combine to create an overall exceptional film. American History X should not be immediately dismissed as an archetypal account of a controversial issue, it provides much more than what an audience would expect from a movie of this nature; it is an innovative drama about the unfortunate consequences of racism in a family that is surprisingly yet, frighteningly realistic.
The dynamic that greatly contributes to the efficiency of American History X, is the illustrious acting. Edward Norton flawlessly plays Derek Vinyard, the main character in American History X, who is angered by the murder of his father by two African-American persons who then, therefore, turns to the world of Neo-Nazism searching for comfort toward his father’s death and for further justification for the hatred he has towards the murderers. After being released from prison for serving a three-year sentence of manslaughter after brutally murdering two black individuals, Derek comes out a changed man who no longer persecutes blacks and other minority figures for invading and tragically altering the life of “true” Americans. Edward Norton is more than perfect for this role. In his “Believe Me” film review site, Jeffery Huston explains, “With this performance, Norton emerges as one of the very best actors working in film today.” Norton’s performance was indeed electrifying. One particular scene in the film that shows the phenomenal talent he possesses, is the incident that shows us what his character was incarcerated for. After brutally murdering two black victims, police quickly arrive and begin to place Derek under arrest. Norton shines as his character is being seized; as he sets his hands on his head and slowly turns, he meets eyes with his horrified brother, Danny, who witnessed everything, and triumphantly smirks as the sinister expression in his glistening eyes reveals unsettling satisfaction, then smugly raises his eyebrows as if asking his younger brother if he is impressed.
...e. Cinema can create new or old perceptions of reality through their depictions of ideas or images. Martyrs of the Alamo is a film that created a new perception of nationalism during a period where there were threats against the United States. D.W. Griffin’s productions of the film perpetuated racial images of Mexicans in order to enhance his central theme. Through out the film we see these racializations through the contrast in characters and how different scenes were created to evoke emotions needed to instill this need to belong.
Although it is desirable to incorporate personal experiences of others to get a feel of the encounters that occurred to the typical or atypical individual within the Chicano movement, this does not entirely mean that the filmmakers left out those who studied the history of it. Historian Mario T. Garcia was a prominent addition in contributing to the historical experiences within the movement and brings in credibility. The concept of utilizing Chicanos who endured the reign of oppression and discussed their involvements to the impartiality efforts was a thrilling and clever one, there was still a need of a backbone in the factual side of it. By introducing an essence of experience, it generates a personal and emotional aspect in the documentary that can be unfavorable and stray from the informative attitude of a documentary. Having Garcia apart of the documentary grounds this enlightening dimension that insights as preventative measure which is an adept move on behalf of directors Luis Ortiz and Antonio
As showed in the film, Latino American often misrepresented and underrepresented both in front of and under the camera. American Hispanic often portrayed as lazy, unintelligent, greasy and criminal. Hispanic women often pictured comfortable sexuality as prostitution in film production; while Hispanic actors limit to criminal characters such as drug dealers, gangster, and provide the power for the white American. Audiences have less interaction with Latino in their real world might be easily framed by media images regarding the race and ethnicity. The lack of Hispanic history and culture understanding allows these media portrayals to change and form unfavorable behavior and attitude against Latino communities.
Having endured the brutality of slavery and the uncertainty of war, America’s blacks enjoyed a period of relative respite during the years 1863-1877. With slavery abolished, the South underwent reconstruction within every component of its unsteady structure. However, one must measure the success of this reconstruction with the criteria of political, social and economic changes in mind. The amendments of the 1860s gave blacks greater political freedom, but were only upheld by the military force of the Northern army; blacks developed their first education and religious institutions, but only within a segregated framework; and economically, the black population worked long, hard hours- though in better conditions than slavery. Despite the progressions, the promise of Reconstruction and the 13th-15th amendments was far from fulfilled.
The Birth of a Nation (1915) is one of the most controversial movies ever made in Hollywood, some people even consider it the most controversial movie in the long history of Hollywood. Birth of a Nation focuses on the Stoneman family and their friendship with the Cameron’s which is put into question due to the Civil War, and both families being on different sides. The whole dysfunction between the families is carried out through important political events such as: Lincoln’s assassination, and the birth of the Ku Klux Kan. D.W. Griffith is the director of the movie, and him being born into a confederate family in the South, the movie portrays the South as noble and righteous men, who are fighting against the evil Yankees from the North, who have black union soldiers among them, whom overtake the town of Piedmont, which leads the KKK to take action and according to the movie become the savior of white supremacy. During this essay, I would focus on the themes of racial inequality, racism, and the archetypical portrayal of black people in the movie, which are significant especially during the era when the film was released.
There are two main issues in the movie the “The Color of Fear” that I will discuss. These two issues include grouping people of color on the basis of the way one looks, and the attitudes of different races towards one another. Including also the idea that the white “do-gooder” feels that subconsciously racism is being taken care of, when in all reality it isn’t. The eight men in The Color of Fear candidly discussed racism not only as "whites oppressing blacks," but also the less addressed sides of racial trouble in America. A white man earnestly stating that he had never oppressed anyone in his entire life, and a Hispanic man talking about being afraid of driving in front of pickup trucks with gun racks, shows how there needs to be more progress towards ending these feelings in America. Stereotypes were openly declared, from Asians as "the model minority" to blacks as "lazy, violent, and dangerous."
The conclusion of the Civil War in favor of the north was supposed to mean an end to slavery and equal rights for the former slaves. Although laws and amendments were passed to uphold this assumption, the United States Government fell short. The thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth amendments were proposed and passed within five years of the Civil War’s conclusion. These amendments were to create equality throughout the United States, especially in the south where slavery had been most abundant. Making equality a realization would not be an easy task. This is because many problems were not perceived before and during the war. The reunification of the country would prove to be harder than expected, and entry into a new lifestyle would be difficult for both the freedmen and their former oppressors. The thirteenth amendment clearly prohibits slavery in the United States. All slaves were to be freed immediately when this amendment was declared ratified in December of 1865, but what were they to do? Generations of African-Americans had been enslaved in America, and those who had lived their whole lives in slavery had little knowledge of the outside world. This lack of knowledge would not be helpful in trying to find work once they were released. Plantation owners with a lack of workforce were eager to offer extremely low pay to their former slaves. In addition, the work force of the plantation would often live in the same quarters they did while enslaved. These living condition...
d violence (Biography 1). While black oriented films have veered away from racism and focused more on humor and sex to attract the new younger audience, Lee has continued to focus on racial issues, keeping the door open for other directors to follow. One of the most original, innovative, and without a doubt controversial filmmakers in America, Lee admits he has been blessed with the opportunity to express the views of black people who otherwise don’t have access to power and media (IMDb 4). Lee uses this motivation coming from his passion of being able to express the views of many, along with Malcolm X himself and his philosophy that blacks need to build their own economic base, to continue contributing to Hollywood (Gale 4). There is no doubt that Spike Lee will continue to find ways to impact audiences with his controversial actions, statements and racial films.
The first social issue portrayed through the film is racial inequality. The audience witnesses the inequality in the film when justice is not properly served to the police officer who executed Oscar Grant. As shown through the film, the ind...
...against them and it seems that the Hispanics are taking over white Anglo-American society according to racists. Two of the movies presented in class which had Latin American theme were «Spanglish» and “A better life”. Though “Spanglish” was not about racism instead it was about letting go of fear, cultural differences and language, next to “A better life” which had couple scenes of prejudices and stereotypes. For example when the police officer was sure the young boy had tattoos that indicated him being a part of a street gang, and wanted him to take off his shirt for evidence.
I am well aware of the oppression that has faced many people of color in our society. I did learn a great deal about how our government is to blame for the racial segregation in our society. America has a history of placing laws and policies on non-whites, thus making it extremely hard for them to live a well-balanced life. I thought it was interesting that immigrants were far more likely to work in mining and industrial jobs than whites. I feel as though this a trend that continues today in America, thus it is evident that we still exclude certain ethnic groups in our society. Although I did not have any biases going into this documentary, I learned a lot about how our government has been the main contributor to white privilege in our
This movie does provoke a dialogue on race that, according to author and journalist Jeff Chang, "has been anathema to Hollywood after 9/11." During the first viewing of
The 1993 film falling down provides a look into two separate men’s lives in the course of one day. Although the movie was highly acclaimed for it’s portrayal of the new human situation, the covert and overt racism, sexism, and classism leave a sour taste in this viewer’s mouth. The movie comes across as a lame attempt to show the “White man’s ever growing burden.” The audience is expected to feel a compassion for both lead characters. The message that is supposed to be portrayed is similar to films of today such as fight club and American beauty. All three pointing at what they see as specific flaws yet offering up no real solutions to these problems. With these flaws in this system pointed out Michael Douglas’ character William Foster is held up as a martyr. He is not portrayed as a real villain through out the story.
Derek Vinyard, played by Edward Norton, starts to adopt this racist mindset that all races other than white are the downfall of society in a flashback scene where he is speaking with his father about school and his father tells him not to listen to the “nigger bullshit” of his black Social Studies teacher, Dr. Bob Sweeney played by Avery Brooks. Derek’s obvious interest in Dr. Sweeney’s lessons fades almost immediately upon hearing these words from his father and Derek begins to agree with his father’s statements. Derek is not forced by his father to feel this way; however, he took it upon himself to feel this way because he looks up to his father. His individual thoughts are stifled because he wants to be more like his father. The racism instilled in Derek from his father is not enough to bring him to the violent lifestyle he starts on to lead, but it does teach him to stay away from black kids from an early age. This herd mentality to stay only with white people has been brought to another level when Derek Vinyard’s father dies. His father is shot and killed by blacks while fighting a fire in a black neighborhood. Derek immediately places the blame on black people, not just a single black person but all black people.
The White Savior Complex is a damaging subconscious underlay of the Hollywood system, and more broadly all of western society. It is used to further separate the notions of “us” and “other” by creating a firm separation fueled by self-righteousness, and a sense of entitlement. Hollywood attempts to address race relations, but fails because of this trope. Kingsle, from the article “Does My Hero Look White In This?” described that both racism and colonialism are acknowledged, but not without reassuring that not only were white people against the system of racist power dynamics, but also were actively fighting against it in leadership roles (2013). In the remainder of my essay I will be commenting on many modern films and their use on this trope, and why subscribing to this filmmaking strategy is problematic.